There's a baby under there somewhere...

O is for Oversized...

Sometimes you wear the hat, and other times...the hat wears you!  lol...

Teeny tiny self portrait in her eyes.  :)

G-Pa's helper...

Sweet baby girl...

Look out, here comes "Trouble"...

8 months here and not as smiley as last month.  Seems like she's trying to cut teeth, but nothing happening yet.  Developing more personality all the time and this one is definitely more determined than her older sister!  She can work up a really good "mad" when she wants to...and she's not as easy to redirect.  She's also FAR more motivated to get around and get into things.  I actually think Abigail is extremely normal and perhaps Hannah is the unusual one!  At any rate, Abigail (or Abby-girl as I call her) is getting around really well!  She LOVES our new floor and how her toys roll around when she throws them....more fun to chase.  Caught her today playing with a little car that makes noise which honestly scared Hannah until just recently.  Abigail loved it!  ha ha!  Can you see the mischief?

Remodel, Finale...

BEFORE:  Kitchen...definitely the most dramatic change.  We basically gutted this room.  Painted paneling white, removed peninsula, bought new appliances, new custom cabinets, new custom hutch, new lighting.

 

AFTER:  Some of my favorite features are recessed lighting, ceiling fan in the cook area (instead of over the table, making the food cold), new appliances, under counter LED lighting with bright white light set on a dimmer, almost everything under the counters is drawers instead of cupboards...all drawers on full extension glides that support 100 pounds...that means no getting down on the floor to dig around in the back of the cabinet...lazy Susan in corner, corner drawer, trash drawer that holds full size trash can for trash AND recycle.

Love our new appliances..at least how they look.  ha ha.  Haven't had much chance to use them yet.  Was ready to cook our first meal last night and discovered our new double oven doesn't work. Seriously????  Repair guy coming Monday.  Don't know yet if they'll be able to fix it or if they'll have to order a new one.  Know it's under warranty, but color us SAD.    Love that our microwave is above the double oven now, giving us a little more counter space.  Oh yes, we have some pretty cool cabinets in the corner that allow us to slide cookie sheets and cupcake tins/cutting boards/ trays, etc. into compartments too. Slick!  And this fridge!  Freezer on the bottom, fridge on the top...LOVE.

Love this creamy yellow color and love how my blue dishes look with it.  New hutch on the left (minus the glass doors which are leaning against the window at the right, drying...lol).  Notice only one door in the background...there were previously 2 doors on that wall...one to wet bar is gone.  The remaining door is a pocket door...loving that too.  Hole in the wall is for our new updated intercom panel which has not yet been installed.  

 

It's definitely still a work in progress, but we're so thankful to be home...and thankful we could do this at all.  Also extremely thankful to Robin for loaning us the use of her home!!!!  I hope to take a few more pics once we're completely settled.  We've unpacked almost everything, even hung some things on the walls...but we're still waiting for shutters in 3 rooms, and for a custom mirror in bath, intercom, oven repair, MY PIANO to be returned...frustrated about that and hoping it comes next week.  I sent it out to have the action rebuilt.  We have a few little paint touch ups and other small odds and ends as well.  Bob and I have been running around putting felt or grippers under all the furniture.  There are a million little things to do besides unpacking...but we're getting there.  Stay tuned! 

Remodel, Pt 5...

I've been trying to save the most dramatic changes for last. 

BEFORE:  Looking from living room towards kitchen.  The shutters on the left were a pass through to the former "wet bar", which I used as a music library for my teaching.  Our contractor's suggestion was to tear down the wall between wet bar and laundry room to create a larger, more usable space.  SO SO thankful we did this.  The wet bar ceiling was originally 6 feet and laundry room was 8 feet...so he had to raise the ceiling, add a new panel to replace the shutters and close up the door from kitchen into wet bar, as well as cap off the water supply to what had once been the wet bar sink. 

AFTER:  Love that we don't have any of the dark paneling anymore.  Also loving that the floor is the same through most of the house now.  Love how it flows from room to room...much more cohesive.  Makes the house feel bigger to me.  And I love how the light reflects off the floor too.  
 

BEFORE:  Laundry room.  Truly no good way to take this picture as the space was SO small.  It would have been slightly better with the zoom lens tho'.  lol

BEFORE:  Wet bar...again really tiny room and very limited storage because of those shutters.

AFTER:  Laundry room/music storage/pantry.  I think this was one of our most dramatic changes.  LOVE LOVE the light in here and the high ceiling.  We installed a solar tube in the ceiling...less expensive and more energy efficient than a skylight...great for small spaces particularly and brings in a TON of light.  All of the cabinetry is custom made, so we had all shelves in this room made adjustable.  The area above the counter is for my music and CD storage for teaching.  The cabinets on left are pantry. The 2 drawers to the left of the little fridge are made for hanging files for more of my music.  Awesome!  Not pictured:  the laundry area (with cabinets above washer/dryer).  Lovin' the tile floor on the diagonal too.

We also updated the bathroom that adjoins this room, but I have not taken pics of it yet because I'm waiting for my mirror to be finished.  Love having a counter in the laundry area for the first time. It is my GOAL to keep it clean.  Hope I can keep things put away!  :)

Remodel, Pt. 4...

BEFORE:  My office...(or rather, a portion of it).  Did not do much in here either.  A slightly lighter paint color, freshened all paint, removed popcorn ceiling, added new wood floor, crown molding, and we are having plantation shutters made...they're not ready yet.  arg.)

AFTER:  Oh yes, and we added the ceiling fan.  LOVE that our electrician made all fans operate off a wall switch, including a dimmer and speed variation.